Meanwhile, completionists will appreciate the title's collections section, which is home to all sorts of purchasable icons, statues and dioramas. The more stars you earn in races, the more currency you'll have at your disposal to unlock and buy these items. In the case of dioramas, you will actually need to perform special challenges in order to open them up. For instance, to unlock the drift diorama, you will fist need to complete 50 super drifts within the races. These unlockables are not easy to come by. You will really have to sink some time into the game, win races, poker and mini-games, if you're going to have any hope of buying either these unlockables or the flimsy, but expensive selection of vehicles that await you. If you don't have an online connection, the process is going to take you forever, a truth bound to please some. For my money, though, acquiring everything the game has to offer is a little too insurmountable if you don't have a way to go online.

Of course, the biggest addition to Excitebots is online play and thankfully the end result is better than anticipated. You can race against six other players online, either friends or random opponents. Naturally, you'll need to swap friend codes for the former, but what else is new? The game's online mode is fantastic for a few reasons, the first and most important of which is that it just works. You login seamlessly to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and you're given the option to play anyone in standard 'Excite' or poker races, or to play against friends. Once you choose, you're automatically paired with a group and then you have some options at your disposal. You can all vote on the level you want to play, select your vehicle. But best of all, you can bet. Actually wager stars in great quantity that you're going to win the match. If you do, you'll get those stars back double. If not, you'll lose 'em for good. The system is excellent, not only a great way to increase competitiveness, but a great reward for a job well done. If you wager 2500 stars in a handful of matches and win, you'll earn enough currency very quickly to buy extra vehicles and unlockables. This is by far the speediest way to accomplish that lofty goal and that's why single-player-only gamers are out of luck.

The visuals look fantastic.

As impressed as I am with the game's many features, I am disappointed with two exclusions. First is the removal of SD Card support so that you can create your own customized soundtracks. I think the music in Excitebots remains one of its weakest elements and would have appreciated the option to supply my own soundtrack, as I could in Excite Trucks. And second, while Excitebots' online mode is robust, lag-free and ultimately very engaging, I still find myself incommunicado with the five other participants during online bouts, which is just silly. These experiences would have been enhanced with simple WiiSpeak support, but sadly, the hardware has gone completely ignored in Excitebots. Too bad. Hopefully we'll get another great sequel that addresses these shortcomings.

It's clear that even with a few missed exclusions, there's a lot to love about this racer. I've focused entirely on all of the extra bells and whistles in the review thus far, but don't worry because the core gameplay control and level designs are just as compelling. You've got got Excite and Super Excite modes, the latter of which is only unlocked after you've obtained 'S' ratings in every race of the former. That challenge definitely separates the men from the boys. There are only five so-called cups -- school, bronze, silver, gold and platinum -- and you can blaze through them pretty quickly if you have any experience at all with Excite Trucks or with any Wii racer played by holding the controller sideways. That said, acquiring those 'S' ratings to unlock Super Excite mode is definitely trickier than merely making it through the cups with 'A' ratings.

You will catch gigantic air in Excitebots.

Excitebots is great fun. The good news is that the controls are noticeably tighter than they were in Monster Games' previous effort. Vehicles respond faster and seem all-around more precise. The smart trick system is quickly mastered and will make all the difference in getting those coveted 'S' ratings. Boost off a huge jump, hold 2 and up/down on the D-Pad, and start those seesawing movements. Your vehicle will in turn begin spinning, racking up additional stars. The more sports you're successful at -- football, baseball, darts, etc. -- the more starts you'll gain. Drifts. Big air. Bar stunts. Pulling out of a would-be crash. All of these and more contribute to stars. It's a really engaging setup that will definitely hook you. Finishing races in first place is a secondary goal if you know how to score through the matches themselves. Take, for example, the last online game I played before I wrote this review. I came in third place, but I still won the race overall because my star count was well beyond everybody else.